


Touchy

by LI0NH34RT



Series: Thiam Prompts [36]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Nightmares, Thiam, touchstarved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 03:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17911340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/pseuds/LI0NH34RT
Summary: Theo has nightmares but thankfully Liam is there to help.





	Touchy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shatteeran](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatteeran/gifts).



> Theo, I wanted to wait a bit longer with posting this, but I feel like you can use this better today.   
> I might not be able to hug you for real right now, but you better believe that those ghost hugs are coming! 💙

Theo wasn't faking it. He really wasn't. At least not at first. He wasn't totally pathetic.   
But let's start at the beginning.

  
   
~♤~

  
   
Sometimes Liam wishes he had never took Theo in when he found the Chimera sleeping in his truck.   
No, that isn't right. He doesn't regret letting Theo stay with him, he just wishes they would have a fully functioning guest bedroom for Theo to sleep in, because this was getting out of hand.    
   
At first Liam had thought it would get better, like his own nightmares of the Berserkers; pale memories that fade more with every day they live in peace. But Theo's demons are self inflicted and maybe that's why he hasn't been able to sleep through the night without waking up either trashing and screaming or in a terrified shock, his sister's heart racing in his chest as furiously scrambling hands speak to hold the organ in it's place.   
   
The war ended three month ago and slowly but surely Beacon Hills returned to normality.   
The pack going their own ways, to Paris, to college – everyone but Liam. Scott left him in charge and so he returned to High school, Mason, Corey and (to everyone's surprise) Theo, by his side. Silent watchers over their town while the hunter's army, now scattered to small groups, turned to be prey themselves.

  
   
~♤~   
 

  
A gasp and the panicked race of a familiar heartbeat wakes Liam up. 3:47am. _That has to be a new record_ , he thinks to himself before sliding out of bed and kneeling next to the air mattress (the eighth, by the way) where Theo lies on his back, gasping like a fish on dry land.    
   
“Hey, hey Theo", it is never fully dark in Liam's room, courtesy of having nightmares of his own, and so his eyes find the other boy's face easily, “Theo, everything is alright. It's me, Liam. You are in my parents house and you are safe here.”

  
He has learned early on not to touch Theo when he was in this state, phantom pain shoots up his jaw at the thought of Theo's panicked but still powerful right hook. So when the Chimera shoots up, woken from the horrors in his brain he simply sits at the other boy's side, providing comfort while talking him through it.   
 

  
When Theo's breath finally slows down a bit, his heart rate back to a reasonable level, Liam dares to softly touch his shoulder.    
“Theo”, he repeats, “are you with me again?”   
The Chimera blinks rapidly for a few times before his eyes focus and he nods.   
“Yeah... sorry for waking you again.”   
“You don't have to apologise”, Liam answers before he stands up again, yawning, “you think you can go back to sleep?”   
Theo only nods and lays down on his back, eyes not leaving the beta who climbs back into his own bed.

  
Two whispered _good night_ 's are the only words spoken as both boys drift back to sleep.

  
   
~♤~

  
   
It took a few weeks for Theo to notice it, the slowly growing feeling of safety. Whether it was when they sat on the dinner table, him next to Liam as if they were a real family or when Jenna asked him to pick up Liam after Lacrosse training, he felt at home.   
Even Tara seems to sense it and she turns up less and less in Theo's dreams. Her place is taken by various other supernatural threats but they are almost friendly compared to his sister and her desire to get her heart back.   
   
Somehow Theo almost misses her. No, not Tara or the feeling of anguish and remorse flowing through him after waking up, but rather the routine that follows.  

  
Liam at his bedside.   
Liam's voice pulling him back into reality.    
Liam's careful touch to make sure he is alright.

  
   
And so, when Theo wakes up the next night, a Tara-free dream again, he decides that he doesn't want this to end.    
 

  
~♤~

  
   
Liam wakes up to another hoarse scream and he is upright and out of bed in seconds.   
“Theo?”   
“... L-liam...”   
“Hey, what is it?” he can feel the beta kneeling on his mattress, hands on his shoulders as Theo comes up with a plan.   
“The Riders!” he brings out, “they wanted to kill us!”

  
Liam doesn’t look convinced and so he continues: “They would have killed you! I had to stop them! First they were like this", he demonstrates a series of punches in the air, “and I had to get them away from you so I went like this", he lunges at Liam taking him by surprise and tackling him into the fluffed up comforter. The beta lets out a startled laugh as he is caught of guard “Theo! What are you doing?”   
   
“Showing you how I won the fight and saved you of course!”    
Theo uses his bodyweight and considerable arm strength to pin Liam down, his thighs securely around the other boy's waist in a tight grip. For a moment neither of them says anything, as they stare each other into the eyes, slowly catching breath.   
Then Liam asks so quietly: “So, did you save me?”   
“I will always save you, little wolf”, and with that statement Theo simply curls around the other boy, not bothering to untangle their legs.   
That night Liam doesn't go back to his bed and Theo sleeps better than ever.   
   
   
~♤~   
 

  
Somewhere between the steadily in abstraction and abstruseness increasing dreams (“Then what?” – “Then we made out.” – “WHAT?” – “Told you it was a weird dream.” And: “Should I put on a shirt for this? Because it looks like it’s-”  - “No need. THEN HE GRABBED MY WAIST AND...” – “Seriously Theo?”) and the longing Liam got from Theo's chemosignals during the daytime, he figured it out. Theo wanted, no he needed human contact. And looking at the bigger picture it actually makes a devastating amount of sense.

The Dread Doctors had taken Theo with them when he was eight and somehow Liam doubts that the creepy steampunk cyborgs are up for regular cuddle sessions with a child, so this is probably the first time in over ten years that someone lets Theo touch them without him having to fear pain as the consequence.   
   
And so Liam let the Chimera manhandle him into the weirdest positions after waking him from his nightmares, from the obligatory chokehold to almost artistically intertwined limbs there is nothing Theo doesn't try - in the safety of darkness anyway because as affectionate and touchy the Chimera is at night as distant becomes his behaviour during the day.

  
   
Liam doesn't want to question if Theo's nightmares are real, it seems like treason to sniff out chemosignals while the boy is hugging him, babbling away of Berserkers, Beasts and even the Anuk Ite himself all getting demolished by the Chimera’s vicious fighting.   
But as endearing as those nightly encounters are, slowly the constant awareness and disruptions of sleep start to chip away on Liam. Even Mason and Corey notice their friend being off and when Corey is able to block the third of Liam's goal shots of the current training he can't hold it in anymore.

  
   
“Liam, what the hell is going on? You look horrible and I haven't seen you this bad at Lacrosse since your last time on meds.”   
The beta just sighs and stifles a yawn “Thanks so much, Corey, you are really motivating me right now... but yes, Theo had another nightmare last night. Every time that happens... I don’t sleep.”   
“Does he scream or something?”   
“Or something.”

  
Corey doesn't look convinced and when he and Mason corner Liam after training, he is simply too tired to resist anymore and so the trio ends up in the small coffee shop just down a few blocks from Beacon Hills High.   
   
“So what? You think he's faking it?”,  Mason voices what Liam tried to suppress.   
“No! I mean... I don't know. But even if he is? Can you blame him?”   
His friends share a long glance before Mason speaks up again.   
“Liam, it's really great that you want to help Theo and you are being a good friend for doing this but look at how tired you are. This is not a permanent solution for Theo's need to cuddle.”

  
“You are right”, Liam nods vehemently, “and I know just what to do. If I can’t cuddle Theo at night, I will just do it by day.”    
“That's not what -" Mason starts only to be interrupted by his boyfriend, “no babe, this will be good.”

  
And so they both fall silent as they watch Liam gulping down the rest of his hot chocolate, still visibly happy with his conclusion, before he gets up from his seat.   
“Alright, see you later guys, I have a Chimera to hug!”

  
“This will either end in a disaster or them getting even less sleep than now...” Mason shakes his head but Corey just shrugs it off, “either way we will get an entertaining next few days.”   
 

  
~♤~

  
   
It's just a few casual touches throughout the day at first, Liam tries his best to be subtle about it but of course, somewhere between soft gazes of shoulders against each other as they cook dinner together, linked feet on the couch while watching TV and full body contact while Liam hugs the other boy after he brings home a new history book from the library that made him think of Liam, Theo catches on.  

  
Because he isn't dumb and Liam isn't half as subtle as he thinks he is, but because he notices what Liam is doing he also sees the effects of the beta’s behaviour. Nightmare free nights and a sense of calm for the day, Liam's scent now never fully leaving him, and so he stays quiet, a small smile forming on his lips every time he is the recipient of Liam's affections.   
The weeks progress and Liam's scent changes. Once comforting and warm, the definition of ‘home’ turns into something more heated, still caring but on another level. Theo isn't dumb and because he also prides himself with his fine nose he decides to risk it.

  
   
~♤~

  
   
“So weird to meet you like this! What are you doing here?”   
Liam groans,  “Get out of my bed, Theo.”

  
Theo's already playful smile turns teasing. “Oh but you like me in your bed, don't you, little wolf?” with a swift movement he presses himself to the beta’s side, his body going pliant to fit the space. Liam's changed scent intensifies as he splutters for an answer.   
“Don't worry Li, I got you covered”, with that Theo leans forward, closing all space between their faces, Liam's lips coming nearer and nearer until –  

  
-the shrilling alarm from two cell phones abruptly ends Theo's dream.  

  
   
But he wouldn't have survived so long if he would let this minor reset stop himself, with a swift motion he hopes onto Liam's bed, cuddling into the beta’s side just like before.   
Liam opens one eye, the blue still tainted from sleep.   
Theo smiles.

  
“So weird to meet you like this! What are you doing here?” 


End file.
